Chapter 30
30
CAS
E yes on the bedroom door, I half listened to whatever Peters rambled on about. Both my heads were focused solely on the beautiful creature currently changing behind that door. Which meant she was naked. Clean and naked. Ready for me to slip in and get her dirty all over again.
Fuck.
Shifting, I gripped my hard dick to alleviate the uncomfortable throb, which was fucking lunacy. I’d gotten off more today than I ever had in one day, and there I was ready, desperate for her again. It wasn’t just her tight pussy that called to me. No, it was all of her. Those all-seeing eyes, the hushed breaths, whimpers she didn’t even know she gave, those smiles I didn’t deserve but she gave anyway.
Everything. She was everything.
A hard, no-holding-back punch to the shoulder dragged my attention to Peters.
“Fucking hell.” He smacked my face hard enough to sting. “Get your head in the game. The right fucking head, you dipshit. I told you,” he said, jabbing a finger in my chest. I glared at the offensive finger, debating about ripping it off. “I told you not to let this interfere with the case, and here you are not listening to a fucking thing I’m saying. It’s her life on the line, you know that, right?”
Her life. Right.
Shaking my head, I scrubbed my sliced-up hand down my face, allowing the pain to bring me back to the present. “Right. Fuck, what’s wrong with me?”
“Good pussy.”
I took a step toward him; he took two back. “Watch it.”
A small tilt of his chin was all he gave. “Fine. Listen, this guy is stepping up his game. I still have no idea why he’s doing this to her?—”
“I do.” We both turned at her voice. Just outside the doorway, she stood with her small hand raised like she had the answer to Peters’s question.
I watched every step she took into the living room. Her eyes cut to the fireplace that was roaring with the fire I’d built for her the second we made it out of the shower. My gaze flicked to her hands, where both index fingers picked at the cuticles of her thumb.
“Oh?” Peters asked, moving closer to her.
My muscles bunched, the protective instincts taking control. It was only sheer willpower that kept my feet planted instead of stalking across the room and putting myself between them, even though they stood more than five feet away from each other and had a couch between them.
“Last night.” Her nervous gaze flicked around the room. “I was so focused on….” Clearing her throat, she squatted to the hearth to get closer to the heat of the fire. “I couldn’t tell you guys….”
“Tell us what, Birdie?” Had to hand it to Peters, he knew how to turn his anger and frustration on and off. He was seconds from punching me one minute ago, and now here he was showing the extra patience Alta needed.
“He found me.”
I felt all the blood drain from my face. Peters glanced to me and held up a hand, letting me know he’d handle it. Clearly, by the look on my face, I wasn’t capable.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
Turning, she tucked her knees to her chest and stared into the fire. “Before you two showed up, he was there waiting for me. I had Benny in my arms, and then he was just there.”
“In your head? You hallucinated?” As crazy as it would make her, I hoped to every god that it was all in her imagination.
Rotating away from the fire, she shook her head. “He said it was easy to get me away from you two, and that he was beginning….” Her eyes widened as she gawked at her sock-covered toes.
First, the shake in her hands drew my attention to her stunned silence. Next it was the loud, desperate gasps for air. Peters and I both rushed over. Gathering her in my arms, I pulled her away from the fire and laid her flat on the couch, gripping her ice-cold hand in my own.
“Lady, breathe. You’re safe. You got out. It’s okay. Focus on me.” Nothing. With a feral growl, I climbed onto the couch to straddle her lean hips. Her chin between my fingers, I tightened my grip until those hazel eyes focused on me. “Breathe,” I commanded. Tears leaked from her eyes, but her chest rose in a deep inhale. “Good girl,” I praised. “Again.”
Over and over I repeated the same words, commanding one thing and then praising her response.
“He said… he said he was beginning to enjoy the hunt too. Too. That means….” Her eyes turned to Peters, imploring him to disagree with what she was thinking.
But he couldn’t.
I couldn’t.
The fucker had a partner.